Checking in

18/07/2014

So folks, just grabbing 5 minutes to pop in here… I’m conscious I haven’t updated properly since the last post connected to the Sierra Leone Marathon, but that’s because life has just kept getting busier and busier.  Do you every get to the point where you just feel totally overloaded?  Well although we talk about managing time and stress and pressures of life, it happens to Counsellors too! And I miss my writing so will endeavour to pop in more, albeit shorter posts.

For those that follow regularly, you will have noticed that I have stepped into the world of poems, which feels to flow very nicely at the moment.  They will be posted on Wednesdays, hopefully fortnightly… but I will see how that goes.

And how come the lack of time? Well I finished the college course I was on… and promptly started another! At the same time as the day job and the counselling job (both voluntary and private)… and then there’s the running!  Sometimes you never know what’s around the corner and this has most definitely proved to be true since visiting Sierra Leone in 2013.

For those that follow me on Twitter, you will no doubt know how some of this has seeped into my life… I’ve heard the phrase “taken over” muttered by friends but feel that may be just a little harsh 🙂 … but what we do in life will always ripple out.  For every action, there is a re-action.  And travelling to Sierra Leone to run in the marathon that the charity Street Child organises each year… well that opened new doors for me… very positive and happy doors… more on that to follow!

In the meantime, this weekend I am running a race to once again raise awareness for Street Child.  I will be running it with a few of the amazing friends I met out there, including the mad Geordie previously mentioned here… who still reminds me I went and left her (yes Helen, I’m talking about you again!)… this will probably happen again tomorrow… well I reckon if I’m never going to hear the last about it, I might as well make it worthwhile 😀

And the race, it’s a little adventure through a wonderful trail which takes a bit of time… 100 kilometres long… from a town to some stones that have been standing a while in a field… time to go lace some running shoes up…

Happy Friday everyone 🙂
Michelle

© 2014 Michelle Payne

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Affirmation of the Week

27/08/2012

Photograph: Sasha Willmott, taken in India, August 2012

“I APPRECIATE WHAT I ALREADY HAVE” 

They are wise people who do not grieve
for the things which they have not,
but rejoice for those which they have.
~~ Epictetus ~~

This week’s affirmation isn’t just about material things… the new shiny car, the bigger house, the latest must-have fashions, designer accessories etc even if we could afford them on a regular basis (I’m betting nearly all of us can’t :D)… how many of us think or have thought, we will be happy when we’ve pleased our partners, our parents, our families… when we’ve finished updating or renovating our homes (note, this is coming from someone who lives in a kind of semi-permanent renovation zone!)… when we can afford to do, or to be,or to have… when we have time? On a financial level, on a material level, on a physical level? This can be related to time… looking forward to that one holiday per year, a two week break out of 365 days a year when everything else seems like a hard slog. Yes, it’s wonderful to have a holiday, and yes it is great that it provides motivation and a light at the end of a tunnel so to speak, but to put all that hope into just 14 days out of 365?

The media obviously plays heavily into this with advertising… especially where kids are concerned (and with Christmas coming up soon (yeah yeah I know, but it’s September in less than a week and you know the shops are going to be stocking up, if they haven’t already – watch out for the Christmas ads too) that pester power will come no doubt be coming into its own!!). Giving examples of so-called perfect idylls… yet all it seems to do is reinforce the idea that what we already have isn’t enough, doesn’t come up to scratch… we need more of… well… everything I guess.

For me, this affirmation is a reminder… to stop. Come to a halt. To look around… like I’m sure I’ve said before with these affirmations (and if not, definitely on the Facebook page or Twitter feed), perception is in the eye of the beholder. To change my perception, to look at what already surrounds me, what I have… with new eyes, fresh eyes… and to really appreciate what I see… from the loud and yelling kids (how much better they be loud, laugh and yell than be quiet and withdrawn and unhappy)… to peace and quiet alone time, for the food that we eat, for the roof over our heads, for the fact that we have someone to talk to, even if it’s only via email… for friends to spend time with, for partners who cuddle us… for someone being there… for our health, for the chance to live on this plane, on this planet, to learn… for our senses of sight, smell, touch, hearing, our bodies… for being our own person… for the choices that we can and do make… and everything else that you can think of!

To live, to laugh… to LOVE… what wonderful gifts we already have… if we but choose to see them 🙂

Wishing you a wonderful week ahead ♥

© 2012 Michelle Payne

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